N-ESRS: accounting profession preliminary remarks

Accountancy Europe has sent a letter to Commissioner Albuquerque regarding the European Sustainability Reporting Standard for Non-EU groups (N-ESRS), currently under development at EFRAG. The N-ESRS is one of the options that can be used to comply with Article 40a of the Accounting Directive, as amended by the CSRD. The Non-EU groups subject to this extraterritoriality provision can alternatively report under the full ESRS, or standards deemed equivalent to the ESRS.

In our letter, we:

• outline some unclear legal aspects that affect the standard-setting
• provide the European accounting and auding’s position on the reporting perimeter options under consideration, noting the challenges with the “mixed approach”
• invite the Commission to consider equivalence-related mechanisms on sustainability reporting standards, as a tool to reduce burden and avoid double reporting.

Accountancy Europe will contribute to the upcoming EFRAG consultation on the N-ESRS.